Lynn E. Calkins and Rafe Petersen are both partners and
Christine N. Walz is an Associate all in our
Washington, D.C. office.
In an important decision for retailers and other public
accommodations, the Tenth Circuit overturned a lower court decision
requiring that every "porch-like" entrance to Hollister
retail establishments be remediated to be accessible to persons
with disabilities.
Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, retail
establishments are "public accommodations" prohibited
from discriminating against the disabled in the full and equal
enjoyment of public accommodations. In Colorado
Cross-Disability Coalition v. Abercrombie & Fitch,
Plaintiffs argued that the Defendants' Hollister stores
violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act because
the stores had inaccessible "porch-like structures" that
served as the stores' center entrance. The porch had multiple
uses: functioning "as a customer lounge and as a
